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Maintaining a global workforce can be important for any company but it is particularly crucial for a company like Xoom, which provides money transfer services to 30 countries. In an industry long dominated by brick and mortar operations, most notably Western Union, Xoom CEO John Kunze said it can provide the same service today online, in less than a minute, at two-thirds less cost. (See here a recent National Foundation for American Policy study on immigrants and successful venture-funded companies.)

The small company has made significant inroads in the Philippines and India, and is growing in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. “It is hugely beneficial to have workers with experience in those markets,” said Kunze. “Our employees have empathy for the users because many use the service themselves to send money to family members.” Although started by two native-born founders, Alan Braverman and Kevin Hartz, the company’s chairman, CFO, senior vice president of marketing and one-third of its workforce is foreign-born.

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, based in Redwood City, California, focuses on medical breakthroughs that “target the pathways critical to cancer stem cells.” According to Paul J. Hastings, President and CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, the company’s founders were native-born as well as its most important patent holder/drug discoverer (Austin Gurney). Four foreign nationals are listed on company patents. All of these foreign nationals are in senior positions in other biotech star-ups now, all in the area of cancer, noted Hastings. “Our little company has been the seed of many startups, and we are proud, as a startup of that.”

Hastings believes combining American-born and foreign-born talent is likely to continue to work well for OncoMed. “We have many new foreign nationals at OncoMed, and I am sure they will be major inventors on our newly filed or soon-to- be filed patents.” The company has an internship with a university in France. “We spend lots of time and money getting talented folks visas to work here from India, China, and Europe,” said Hastings.

Another example of a company with native-born founders but where foreign-born talent has played an important contributing role is ExteNet Systems, which provides network infrastructure for wireless providers. Eric Lekacz, a co-founder of the company and vice-president of business development and strategy, said although he was born in Detroit, he lived in London and other members of the management have spent significant time abroad. Although a relatively small company, with 86 employees, it is striking how ExteNet’s leaders think globally in the same manner as companies on the Fortune 500 list.

“We have worked internationally and developed contacts, so we might be just as likely to find the critical person we need is working in Europe as in the U.S.,” he said. “And if it’s a foreign national, we will go through the pain” of the immigration process.

While it is often large companies cited in media accounts supporting liberalized immigration rules for highly-skilled foreign nationals, Lekacz points out that hiring the right person can be even more critical for newer companies. “When in the emerging growth phase you have to get the best person without regard to race or ethnicity,” he said. “We have a mix of people from all backgrounds. It’s pretty amazing. It just naturally happened. They were the best people for the job.”

ExteNet Systems helps provide infrastructure solutions for wireless service providers, often doing it at a savings of 30 to 50 percent, according to Lekacz. To drive down the costs and avoid the costs often associated with “wiring” a building – it’s been necessary for ExteNet Systems to be creative. An important part of that creativity has come from Tormod Larsen, the chief technology officer who was born in Norway. “Through his knowledge and expertise, Tormod has developed patents and also helped identify patents we needed to acquire,” said Lekacz. Steve Kingwell, vice president of implementation, was born in Canada. Based in Lisle, Illinois, ExteNet Systems raised $128 million in capital in 2010.

Another company that venture capitalists believe may be poised for growth is Achaogen, based in South San Francisco, California. The company “develops small molecule therapeutics to treat multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.” Its focus is “addressing serious medical needs caused by the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.”

Started in 2004, by four U.S.–born founders, the company today is led by CEO and Chief Medical Officer Kenneth J. Hillan, who was born in Scotland and received his medical training at the University of Glasgow.

“Achaogen has a very diverse group of managers and employees, including employees from Scotland, India, Ireland and other countries,” according to John Hollway, Achaogen’s vice president for business development. “We rely on their diversity and creativity to solve the many challenging problems of drug development.”

RGB Networks, started in 2003 by Canadian-born Edward Krause and American-born Peter Monta and Adam Tom, delivers high quality video service for consumers via telecom, cable and satellite companies. The company employs 175 people, led by British-born CEO Jef Graham.

This is the third startup company led by Graham. The company’s vice president of marketing was born in Iran and its vice president of international sales was born in Italy. RGB Networks is backed by two of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Accel Partners. “They back companies when the idea has the potential to be large, diverse in product, and with a predictable revenue growth,” said Graham. He views IP video as one of the last great frontiers for data. He took the job as CEO because he thought it would be “fun” and an opportunity to leave a legacy.

Much of the hiring at startups, in Graham’s experience, involves people with 5 years of experience seeking new opportunities and increased responsibility in a startup environment, rather than hiring many people fresh out of school. Graham said what is unique about America and Silicon Valley is that in Japan employees would ever leave an established publicly traded company to take a chance working for a startup.

“For me, America was a magnet. I wanted to take the chance to work in Silicon Valley,” said Graham. “In the rest of the world, when someone presents an idea, the response is often, ‘Here’s why you can’t do it.’ In America, the response is ‘great idea.’ That is a unique strength as a nation.”

I am the executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-partisan public policy research organization focusing on trade, immigration and related

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I am the executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-partisan public policy research organization focusing on trade, immigration and related issues based in Arlington, Virginia. From August 2001 to January 2003, I served as Executive Associate Commissioner for Policy and Planning and Counselor to the Commissioner at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Before that I spent four and a half years on Capitol Hill on the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, first for Senator Spencer Abraham and then as Staff Director of the subcommittee for Senator Sam Brownback. I have published articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other publications. I am the author of a non-fiction book called Immigration.